Muse or Not

My muse is such a fickle thing,
When she is here, it feels like spring,
A charming and uplifting boss,
But when she’s gone I’m at a loss.
I ask my words to come outside,
But no, they say, they have their pride.
They claim that it’s a holiday,
And all they want to do is play.
“But why?” I ask. “Why not for me?”
They say because they work for free.
“Your muse,” they vow, “is much more fun
And knows best how to get things done,
But when she’s gone, you poke and prod
And seem confused.” They gravely nod.
But muse or not, I’ll drag them out
And hope they work instead of pout.

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94 thoughts on “Muse or Not”

Can definitely be a wee bugger at times. 😉 Prodding at words is heavy going. Think I’ll go outside and play too. Wonder what Muse like to play at. Hide and seek maybe? Lovely work, Cubby. Well captured.x

Ah, the fickle muse… too well do I know the frustration. I like to think my muse is like a Shetland pony: cute as a button and very smart, but with a mind of her own and incredibly cantankerous when she wants to be. At which point bribery is often required. 😉

The Power…. *cackles* – I’m intrigued to know how the other two would have gone now!

The good thing about being brand new to this is not having been going long enough to come across the brick wall that is writer’s block yet (I save that for my PhD thesis which is due in imminently and getting far less attention than my poetry writing ;S )

I love this though and think you capture it perfectly – I love Stephanie’s idea that her muse is a Shetland Pony – mine is far less exciting and seems to be either one of my three year old girls or the lurking anorexia bully I do my best to keep locked up tight, depending on my mood….

I think when something important is on the horizon, like your thesis, our muses become unusually active. Hopefully your muse will let you finish the paper. The lurking bully needs to go somewhere the light doesn’t shine. Your daughters can take turns being your muses. 🙂

ha ha! I’ve actually made quite a bit of progress on my thesis today – I think this conversation guilt tripped me into it 😉 I simply have to get it finished, I have too many other projects to get on with. Besides, I look forward to making everyone call me Dr Pooky… ALL THE TIME!

LOL – I didn’t really care about the PhD when I entered into it, it was just handed to me on a plate and is about an area of research I feel passionate about (student mental health) but having worked full time alongside it for six years and now managing two three year olds as well it feels hard won, so the doctor bit is kind of symbolic of a lot of sweat and toil 🙂

I thought Thanks Giving was in November though? (I was in the US for thanksgiving when Lyra had just turned one, it was amazing though we missed Tom and Ellie terribly – Ellie had only just joined us and wasn’t allowed to travel but Tom booked surprise tickets for Lyra and I to go to my sister’s wedding. That was way more info than you bargained for wasn’t it 😉 )

Thanksgiving is a national holiday in Canada and the United States. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. It is a harvest celebration, and there are similar celebrations in other countries as well such as Germany, Grenada, and Japan. Compared to North Americans, I think Brits are much less ignorant in many ways, especially when it comes to world affairs. 😉

To combat writer’s block, or just to seek random inspiration, I will often flip to a random spot on a random page in an old, falling-apart thesaurus I have that was first published in 1924 (it’s a 1946 printing though) that has a lot of no-longer-common words/phrases in it for inspiration. I sometimes then google what I find to get a clearer understanding of the word/phrase, and let it be an influence on my creative writing. It’s quite fun, I recommend perusing ebay for an archaic thesaurus on the cheap sometime, and trying it too:)

wow Cubby a temperamental muse, now that’s an issue to grapple with. To make it worse they are pouting muses, sounds almost like a tantrum but you have a determination to have them behave and that is a good thing for us.

This is fabulous! Such perfect rhythm, yet feels totally natural and unforced, and I love the light comedic feel, even though I know how frustrating dragging out words can be when their resisting. Yes, it’s best when work is play:-) Blessings, H xxxx

I totally get this sometimes my poems just flown out other times it seems so much like and effort and then they aren’t as good I feel. My muse comes and goes a lot. The trick is to write as much as you can when it’s there. Great fun way of describing it an excellent poem x

“Fear not O Muse! truly new ways and days receive, surround you,
I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,
And yet the same old human race, the same within, without,
Faces and hearts the same, feelings the same, yearnings the same,
The same old love, beauty and use the same.”

Surely no, your muse visits you frequently, so she cannot have flown far, maybe just to the garden next door…! Mine is an albatross, visiting the land that is me but once a year or two and then flying far away to distant oceans of dreaming…

Hmm to the garden next door…that would explain why she smells so sweet. Albatrosses are very powerful birds. I think they tend to visit in your dreams, so the trick is to try to remember them when you wake up. 🙂